Alex became just the second hurricane on record to form in the Atlantic Basin during the month of January. The last hurricane that formed in the Atlantic during January was in 1938, according to NOAA's historical hurricane tracker database.

Alex was also the first hurricane to occur in the Atlantic in January since Alice in 1955. Alice initially formed into a hurricane on Dec. 31, 1954, but then remained a hurricane into early January 1955.

Alex became the strongest January hurricane on record (estimated 85 mph winds).

Alex made landfall on the island of Terceira in the central Azores with maximum estimated sustained winds of 65 mph.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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